The Blog Name Bind

Let’s be honest.

Belle Can Read is a boring name. It’s unoriginal, unimaginative, and uninventive—all of the -UNs.

So, how did I come up with the name? Let me tell you all story you may be able to relate to:

When I was in Elementary School and asked the teacher, “Can I use the bathroom,” the teacher would reply, “I don’t know, can you?” They would then proceed to explain that can meant “to be capable” and may indicated possibility or permission; therefore, I was capable of using the restroom, but I had yet to ask permission to do so.

Believe it or not—and this is going to sound really silly (or stupid)—but that childhood memory about bathrooms was on my mind when I created my blog name.

See, I knew I wanted to incorporate my nickname, Belle, and the blog’s focus, books, in the blog name, but I also didn’t want to spend too much time fussing over the name (Pfft, so much for that. I mean, did you see the post title?). The result was the totally creative name, Belle Can Read. The idea behind it was that although this is a book blog, there’s a possibility that I may post about other topics; even though I can read, I may not always be reading. (Do you understand why I was talking about bathrooms now?)

I’m laughing because the more I think about it, the less sense my reasoning for the blog name makes.

Now, I’m faced with a problem I’m calling The Blog Name Bind. Should I change my blog name?

There are plenty of reasons that I should change my blog name:

1. There’s so many great blog names in the blogosphere! Again, let me reiterate how boring my blog name is compared to others. There’s nothing special about it that allows my blog to stand out in a sea of beautiful blog names.
2. What if I don’t want to limit myself to sharing about books? I know I can post whatever I want on my blog, but with the word “read” in the name, people will expect book-related posts. They would be signing up for one thing but be getting another.
3. What if my blog has a bigger following in the future? I still might not be satisfied with the blog name and many people may recognize and associate my posts with Belle Can Read.
4. Will it be too late to change the name? It may confuse people.

Yet, there are things holding me back from changing its name.

1. I would have to redirect everyone to the new domain. On WordPress, that costs $13/year. I could just change any links to direct people to the new blog, but that would only include links I have in my control. For example, I can’t change links to my old URL in another blog’s post. Also, if people searched my old blog address, it’ll look like I deleted my blog.
2. I would have to change the blog design. Certain aspects like the bells in the signature may not fit the new name, or even the abundance of flowers! With my classes starting up again, I have less time to create posts, nevermind changing my whole blog design.
3. I actually kind of like the simplicity of the name and what it stands for. There’s no denying that the name gets straight to the point; You know who the blogger is and what blog’s focus is. Plus, even though the meaning behind my blog name isn’t so clear to me now, at one point it was 😂.
4. I still don’t have another name for this blog. How am I supposed to change the name to if there’s nothing to change it to? My creativity only helps as far to create (mediocre) blog post ideas, not attractive blog names.

So, that’s where I’m at with The Blog Name Bind right now. I’m not impressed with “Belle Can Read”, but I have to make peace with it for the time being.

Thanks for reading! How about you? Are you satisfied with your blog name? How important do you think blog names are? Let me know 🙂.